Mumbai, 2 June 2012

Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Gupta has dropped his plans to build a film studio near Mumbai. Instead, he feels Gujarat has better prospects for locations to use in future.

Gupta said he bought land in Karjat and was going ahead full-steam with plans. But now he has decided against it.

“Gujarat is the place where Bollywood will eventually be shooting. They’re welcoming us with both arms,” said Gupta.

“To shoot in any outdoor location of Mumbai, we’ve to get permission from five different government bodies. And even then, we’re allowed to shoot only on Sundays in so-called sensitive areas.Anyway to make matters worse, we are not allowed to take aerial shots of Mumbai from helicopters. So to shoot Anil Kapoor at Dhobi Ghat from the top, I had to employ a 200-feet crane. My cameraperson had to clamber up awkwardly and dangerously to get that shot from the top,” he added.

“It becomes a gathering struggle for Hollywood’s filmmakers to shoot in LA. A time came when they stopped completely. And Vancouver in Canada become a substitute for LA,” he said.

About Sanjay Gupta

Gupta made “Kaante”, “Zinda”, “Dus Kahaniyaan”, and he is now making “Shootout at Wadala”, the story of Mumbai police’s first registered shootout in which they gunned down gangster Manya Surve in 1982. Gupta has also scripted and produced the film.

The star cast includes John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor and Sonu Sood.

Gupta had produced 2007 gangster drama “Shootout At Lokhandwala”, which was directed by Apoorva Lakhia.

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